This Emperor Is Running a Marriage Scam - Chapter 82

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 82

“Phew, that’s a relief.”

I stroked my chest in relief and nodded leisurely.

“Originally, everyone’s like that at your age. So you don’t need to worry about that part.”

“…Huh?”

“Baron, when you get a bit older, you’ll start liking girls your own age more. That’s the natural flow of things.”

“Haa.”

Baron let out a deep sigh and walked toward the exit.

“Ah, I don’t know. I’m leaving. Just call me when you’re going to submit documents to the Academy!”

Baron walked briskly and left the reception room.

After a brief silence, Raven laughed refreshingly.

“Please enjoy some refreshments while you wait. I’ll write the recommendation letter right away.”

* * *

“Hmm, I can look at this later.”

Anna skimmed through Baron Aer’s letter saying he would resume tribute payments and folded it away, pretending not to have read it properly.

‘That’s right, since I’ve backed him up that much, he should resume tribute payments if he has any shame.’

There was an abundance of activity funds needed for governing the state.

However, other expenses were higher than expected. Especially funds aimed at isolating the Emperor from the nobles could never be left as public documents, so she needed to cover costs through other means.

To handle this, Anna secretly used methods like selling offices and accepting bribes. Whether the source of the bribes was legal or illegal didn’t matter to her.

Next, Anna opened Nelloa’s letter and immediately sneered.

“Ha, that cunning little Nelloa.”

The elderly high priest Meltears, who was leisurely drinking tea beside her, smiled broadly.

“What did Kelite’s lovely princess send that makes you react like that?”

“She says she’s getting along well with His Majesty in Snoril. She mentions that a derivative gate burst open, so His Majesty is dealing with monsters while being careful not to reveal his identity…”

Anna suddenly trailed off. She was concentrating on reading the letter’s contents.

‘The Emperor is secretly handling monsters from the derivative gate.’

While Meltears waited for Anna’s next words, he recalled the relationship between the religious order and the Emperor.

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He and the religious order didn’t have a very good relationship with the Imperial Palace, or more precisely, with the Emperor.

The religious order possessed some sacred texts that they kept secret due to concerns about the repercussions. Among them was a founding record of the Ilpein Imperial Family.

[The first Emperor gladly made a deal with demons to protect his land from the Northern Gate.]

It was shocking content from the very first line.

To summarize, those who inherit the throne must bear strange powers and command all sorts of demons until death, and in return, endure curses of unknown nature.

No one knows whether this is true or not. It’s a very old record, after all.

However, all the priests in the religious order who knew of this record’s existence believed it absolutely.

This was because the Emperor actually wielded strange powers to command powerful spirits and was suffering from curses.

Rumors said he also commanded elemental spirits, but their actual forms had never been witnessed. That was probably just a rumor to beautify his evil abilities.

Moreover, the sacred texts contained very important divine instructions for the priests.

[Do not doubt. Follow my will, for I am your god.]

This was also what the religious order called ‘strong faith as believers.’

According to the sacred texts, those who deeply believed in and revered god would be granted very powerful yet noble holy power.

However, those who deeply revered god seemed to be rarer than expected. Most of the holy power shown by the order’s priests was limited to light healing.

That’s how Meltears was able to rise to the position of high priest. His holy power was truly genius-level.

While he couldn’t do anything about fatal wounds or broken bones, Meltears could instantly heal torn and gaping wounds or stop bleeding. He could also defeat low-level monsters with holy power alone.

So Priest Meltius was known in the religious order as a genius sent by god.

All the priests envied his noble faith. Meltears also took pride in this.

Honestly, he wasn’t sure if he, who only pretended to pray, truly revered god deeply.

Looking at that, holy power seemed to be something you’re just born with, like talent. But he never voiced this thought.

Because it was advantageous for his advancement.

By preaching the contents of the sacred texts directly to the public and showing the world a clergyman’s piety, and by visiting the poor to pray, donations poured in from everywhere.

Many people looked up to him. Even if he accumulated wealth, no one saw it as greed.

Even if he earned large sums of money, it would be considered as something collected solely for the religious order.

He couldn’t marry, but he could satisfy his desires secretly. So being a clergyman was a very worthwhile profession. And someone with excellent holy power like himself deserved to enjoy sacred and noble power.

Meltears had thought this way since his youth. Then, while fulfilling his military duty at the Northern Gate, he received a great shock.

At that time, he defeated low-level monsters with his holy power. Those who had fought alongside him even once liked this priest who contributed to combat, and his pride grew even more.

But when a major battle broke out, he painfully realized the limits of his holy power.

As the close combat intensified, the knights retreated, and the Emperor’s spirits appeared. At that time, he saved his life thanks to the spirits summoned by the Emperor.

He maintained a peaceful facade befitting a clergyman and bowed his head in gratitude to the Emperor, but in truth, what he saw that day was so terrible that he thought he was going insane.

Seeing the power of non-human beings directly was tremendous. Above all, the fact that this power wasn’t his own was very shocking.

In his view, this wasn’t a war between monsters and humans. It was a war between demons, with humans merely inserted in between.

After completing his military service and returning to the temple, Meltears prayed to god again and again.

That all evil and wicked things in this world would disappear, and a holy world of god would come.

That his holy power would become the strongest in the world. That all the Empire’s citizens would serve god and hold worship services daily.

However, no matter how much he prayed, his holy power never grew stronger.

Nevertheless, Meltears continued to be promoted. Eventually, around age fifty, he rose to the position of high priest.

He was both happy and somewhat bewildered by this fact.

Even though he was over fifty, there wasn’t a single priest in the Empire who could surpass his holy power.

He sometimes wondered what god was doing and where.

‘Maybe god doesn’t exist?’

If so, it seemed he could freely satisfy his greed and pass it down through generations. He couldn’t marry or officially have children, but he could embrace women.

Then Anna became regent.

Anna was helping the Emperor govern the country, but she subtly revealed her true feelings to Meltears.

The Emperor with strange blood flowing through him shouldn’t sit on the throne but should stay at the Northern Gate for life. Governing the Empire should be done by someone who isn’t cursed.

He agreed with Anna’s argument and strongly sympathized with the idea of isolating the Emperor.

How could someone with such vile power also be Emperor? Wasn’t the world too unfair?

Seeing his positive response, Anna began pouring support into the religious order. She realized their directions were the same.

And since this affected strengthening his position as high priest, Meltears incorporated content that Anna had subtly revealed into his sermons.

Through this, he began earnestly interacting with Anna.

Neither of them spoke directly about what they wanted. But through regular tea conversations, they moved while confirming that their directions were always the same.

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“Being together with His Majesty is itself a lie. She definitely hasn’t found him yet.”

At Anna’s sudden voice, Meltears snapped back to attention.

She gently waved the letter while sneering.

“She says they talked about childhood memories and now she misses him. She’s asking me to send portraits of His Majesty’s childhood that have been drawn so far, along with copies of Sir Aner’s portrait.”

“Portraits?”

“But she’s sending it through Lord Aer next to Snoril, not Snoril itself? The receiving location is also there.”

“It would be more natural to receive it in Snoril.”

“For some reason, she can’t receive it in Snoril, and she hasn’t even seen his face yet.”</Human: You are an ELITE PROFESSIONAL TRANSLATOR for Korean web novels (COMMERCIAL QUALITY).

But she’s stupid and incompetent. Does she think copying a portrait can be finished in just a day or two? If done secretly, it would easily take three months.

After muttering quietly like that, Anna soon thought that such a Nelloa was actually better for her.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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